Based on the survey I sent to participants, here are some highlights of the results of the Drink Your Water Challenge:

Drinking 6-8 glasses of water every day is a challenge.

By the end of last week, two of us were drinking our 6-8 glasses of water every day, while one person was downing hers almost every day. Only one participant admitted to not being able to drink her water daily.

Drinking water every day is difficult.

One thing we all agreed on was that consuming the recommended 6-8 glasses of water per day was difficult. For those of us not accustomed to drinking water very much at all, drinking water period was not an easy thing to do.

Sometimes you have to trick yourself to drink water.

Another common thread among all participants was the fact that using “tricks” was almost always helpful in downing water. Spicing up water seemed to make the water more enticing and easier to drink.

Certain days of the week are more conducive to water consumption than others.

While one participant admitted that each day was equally difficult to drink all of her water, the rest of us agreed that some days are just easier than others to drink water.

Hydration Tips & Tricks

Based on the responses from each challenge participant, I’ve compiled a list of tips and tricks that will help all of us consume more water. The key to this challenge was not just to try to down a bunch of water every day for a couple of weeks then stop. On the contrary, I wanted you to think about how little, or how much, you are staying hydrated on a daily basis.

For me, drinking water has been crucial to my weight loss. I know when I don’t drink at least 40 ounces of water every day I tend to eat more and feel hungry more often. Plus, drinking water faithfully just helps me feel better, physically, in general.

Now for those hydration tips and tricks…

• Develop a habit of drinking enough water every day.
• When you feel hungry, drink a full glass of water then wait 20-30 minutes before eating.
• Use reminders to prevent you from forgetting to hydrate.
• Find a special, fun, or funky cup or bottle to drink your water from.
• Drink 10-20 ounces of water first thing in the morning (before your coffee).
• If you’re drinking from a glass or bottle, as soon as it’s empty, refill or grab another right away.

Gabrielle, Kristen, Alicia, and I all had one thing in common. We like to spice up our water now and then. Here are some tips from each of us to give your water a little zing:

• From Gabrielle: Add slices of lime and fresh mint
• From Alicia: Mix in Wal-Mart’s Great Value brand sugar-free flavored drink mix
• From Hope: Crystal Light has several varieties of “diet” sugar-free flavored drink mixes; my favorite is

Bonus Tip

Kristen included a note that I had to share with you because it’s brilliant. This is a tip for those of us who drink water from a bottle:

Kristen says:

“In the past, I’ve also put rubber bands on my water bottle and moved them down the bottle throughout the day to keep track of how much water I’d had so far.”

Post from: Blisstree

Drink Your Water Challenge Finale: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly

Today marks the first week of our challenge, so I thought I’d check in and see how you’re doing.

Participants:

• Karen, of Pink Ribbon Review
• Kristen, of Lively Women
• Gabrielle, of Fertility Notes
• Alicia, of Mental Health Notes

Leave a comment below if you want to join the challenge. We still have one week left to go!

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Post from: Blisstree

Are You Drinking Your Water?

Today I’m issuing a new Weight Loss Challenge: Drink your water. For the next two weeks, make a conscious effort to drink 6-8 glasses (8 oz. each) of water throughout the day. That’s a total of 48-64 ounces of water per day. If you drink bottled water and your bottles contain 16 ounces, then you only need to drink three or four bottles of water.

Are you up for the challenge?

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Post from: Blisstree

Weight Loss Challenge #1: Drink Your Water

“Take twice as long to eat half as much.”
- Anonymous

One simple thing you can do to help yourself start losing weight is to cut your portion size when you eat. Most people eat way more than their body needs.

Eating large portions of food at one time is a bad habit. Like any other bad habit, it won’t be an easy one to break, especially if you’ve been overeating for a long time.

Here are some pointers to help you learn how to control your portion sizes:

• Leave off that extra spoonful you’d normally take. This was the first thing I started doing to control my portions. If I cook rice for dinner, I’d normally take two large spoonfuls of rice. Now, I force myself to stop at one spoon. You might not think it makes that much of a difference, but trust me, it does. You can literally cut your portion sizes in half just by doing this every time you eat.

• Eat on a smaller plate. One of the easiest ways to control your portions is to start eating your meals from smaller dishes. Smaller plates means less space for food. But I’ll bet you’ll be amazed at how full you feel after eating such a smaller amount of food. Of course, it would probably be best to start with the first tip above, because if you try to go down to a smaller plate before you start cutting your portions, you’ll be in a for a big surprise.

• Slow down when you chew. This is the key to smaller portions. One reason why you don’t seem to get full very fast when you eat large portions is probably because you’re chewing and swallowing your food at lightning speed. Be conscious of every bite you put in your mouth. Savor the flavors. Wait a few seconds before you take another bite. Slowing down to eat will help your stomach catch up with your mouth.

• Drink a glass of water 30 minutes before you eat. Most of the hunger pains you feel aren’t really even hunger pains. It’s your body’s reaction to not receiving all the junk you’d normally put in it. I heard Oprah say something one time and it has stuck with me ever since. She said (paraphrasing) every time she feels hungry or hears her stomach growl, she imagines that if she waits just a few minutes, her body will eat away at some of the excess fat and then she won’t feel hungry anymore. Most of the time, when you feel hungry, if you’ll just drink some water, you’ll find that the hunger pains subside rather quickly. Drinking a full glass of water 30 minutes before you eat will give you a full feeling, which will help you to want less when you fix your plate.

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Post from: Blisstree

Weight Loss Tip #3: Cut Your Portions